About Me

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Did The New Deal Fail?

When I was a kid in the 50s nobody thought the New Deal had failed. When you drove on a road it was probably a road built by the New Deal. When you went to school it was probably a school built by the New Deal. When you went to the Post Office it was probably a Post Office built by the New Deal. When you turned on a light, the electricity came from dams built by the New Deal. All of the adults you knew had lived through the Depression, and none of them thought the New Deal was a failure.

In fact, they thought capitalism had failed catastrophically, and that probably something like the New Deal would be necessary forever to keep capitalism from failing again. Modern Republicans think the same thing, they just don't like to see any democracy or accountability involved when government props up business. When it came to pump-priming, though, George Bush was so there, spending about $4.5 trillion over eight years to keep things looking rosy.

In spite of today's orchestrated whining, there's no disagreement at all- the New deal was a success, and a model for the future.